Leicester 37 Northampton 17: Hartley hands it to Tigers

Slideshow: Tigers take title

Graham Kitchener crashes over for Leicester, who were pushed hard by 14-man Northampton (Tim Ireland)

THIS was red-raw rugby that gripped you until it almost hurt. Leicester are
the Aviva Premiership champions after a match of biting intensity and
confrontation, skill and sporting excellence — all the good things about the
sport that everyone can be smug about — and incidents that categorically
were not good, for everyone to condemn.

Dylan Hartley, Northampton’s captain and therefore the man charged with
setting an example, was warned by Wayne Barnes, the referee, for verbal
backchat with a few minutes of the first half left. Northampton were very
much in the game, with a cutting edge in attack that exceeded anything
Leicester had to offer — though the Tigers were superior in other areas.

With Leicester 13-5 ahead, Stephen Myler, the Northampton fly-half, saw that
the clock had run down and drop-kicked the ball out of play. However, he
kicked it directly out. Barnes called for a scrum, as he had